


Peeta Mellark At Your Service

by areyouserial



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-10 08:37:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4384991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/areyouserial/pseuds/areyouserial
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the summer of 1967 and Peeta Mellark has just graduated high school. The world is wide open to him. The only problem is he's stuck pumping gas at his father's garage. And maybe that's his destiny... Until one particularly hot afternoon, a fascinating woman with an damn sexy car teaches him that there's so much more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peeta Mellark At Your Service

The sun hung just over the horizon in a cruel ball of fire, refusing to set as evening approached. Technically, it was the longest day of the year. Summer stretched the days, endless and sweltering, and I found myself already craving the refreshing air that comes with the fall. And that was ridiculous. This was supposed to be the summer of my prime. It was the summer of 1967, I'd just graduated. I was free. I was an adult. So why did I still feel stuck?

It was almost closing time. I sat on an overturned milkcrate at the side of my dad’s service station hoping my Coke would quell the heat inside of me. A bead of perspiration slipped down the side of my neck when the radio that sat on top of the soda machine announced today’s temperature climbed near one hundred degrees. _It’s going to be a long, hot summer folks. You’re listening to ninety-three KHJ and here are The Beach Boys!_ the deejay announced before the haunting opening strains of Good Vibrations floated from the speakers.

I swallowed a crisp, fizzy gulp of soda, and readied myself to get up once again when one more customer pulled onto the lot. I could feel my eyebrow tug upward with intrigue at the roadster that slowed to a stop at the first pump. It was the color of spearmint gum, with gleaming chrome accents and impeccable whitewall tires.

“Shit,” I breathed across the rim of my Coke bottle. I dragged my gaze across the hood, polished to a shine like candy, and let it land on the girl behind the steering wheel. “Holy shit,” I murmured.

Quickly, I set the soda bottle down on the concrete and hopped to my feet, running a nervous hand over my hair as I approached. My lips parted, it’s like I couldn’t close my mouth, and I kept feeling the corners there flick upward. 

I thought I could chalk it up to the cherry set of wheels that you don’t really see on this side of town. But hell. Talk about things you don’t really see on this side of town.

“Ethyl? Fill it up, please.” The request drifted between her perfectly rosy lips.

“Ah…” I exhaled and damn near forgot that I worked here. “Ah, evening, Miss,” I recovered as I swiftly made my way over and tugged the nozzle from the pump.

She cut the engine. “And the windshield too,” she added, leaning to check her reflection in her rearview mirror. She reached for her throat where she unthreaded a light scarf that was knotted at her neck. Her fingers unlooped the material and the silk slipped from her skin, olive-hued and dewy from the humid air at dusk before she dropped the material onto the passenger seat.

I managed to swallow the air that was stuck in my windpipe and I think I just stood there, holding the nozzle in my hand until it trickled a stream of gasoline to the pavement. The sound of it forced me to blink back my temporary daze.

“You alright?” She turned to look at me, her eyes, grey like a shadow, like a secret taking a sweeping survey of me.

Jesus. “Yes.” I coughed. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry.” I darted to the rear of her car, uncovering the tank to insert the nozzle.

I heard the tinkling laugh from the driver’s seat ahead of me. “Ma’am?” She questioned.

I glanced up and saw that she was looking at me in the reflection of her side mirror. My gaze met hers in the glass and I saw my cheeks flush with a wash of pink before my face dropped and I smiled bashfully at the ground. I lifted my gaze once more, though, and caught hers in the mirror again. 

“I…” I breathed a laugh and shook my head for a moment, but noticed that her stare refused to let go. “An MK1 Roadster,” I offered to her reflection, resolve finally steeling my features. I wet my bottom lip when her eyes narrowed. “Nineteen-sixty. Straight-four, B-series engine.” The words rattled from me with hardly a thought. “Wire road wheels.”

I watched as she tasted her own bottom lip and then drew a deep inhale through her nose. “Nineteen-sixty- _one_ ,” she remarked into the side mirror.

I felt the smirk curve across my mouth and I swear, my dick stiffened when she corrected me. “It’s gorgeous,” I told her, glancing across the body of the roadster once again as I released the handle at the full tank.

“I think so, too,” she mused, treating me to a coy smile as I rounded the vehicle to replace the nozzle at the pump.

“You just…” I wiped my hands on the rag from my back pocket and assessed the length of the car. It’s almost as if I was afraid to look at her. I knew if I did, I’d start stammering like an idiot. So I went to work on her windshield instead. “You don’t see many British roadsters in the Valley.”

She lifted one shoulder in an innocent shrug, her eyes following me across the glass. “I like it that way. Then you’ll always know when I’m coming.” Straightening in her seat, she peered over the windshield at the patch stitched to my shirt emblazoned with my name. “Peeta,” she added. 

Damn. A rush of arousal seized my core and I willed it to abate with a measured breath. But that was a lost cause as my eyes wandered up from the circles I was wiping on the glass and settled on how much of her bare legs stemmed from beneath the dress she wore. I think it was the shortest goddamn dress I’ve ever seen in my life, the edge of the pink and orange fabric just skimming underneath her rear end. Right now, she kept her knees together in her seat while she watched me but what I wouldn’t give to sit in the passenger seat while she drove this thing, her thighs parting so that she could release the clutch. 

“You’re really thorough with windshields,” she noted, her voice ripping into my sudden daydream about her legs.

“Oh,” I breathed. I was torn between hurrying up so that she could leave and I could go search for my dignity, and seeing how long I could take on her car so that I could keep looking at her.

“You know a lot about this stuff,.” She dragged her fingertips along the length of her dark hair, pulled off to the side and styled in a low ponytail that draped over one shoulder. 

I cleared my throat and let a smile reveal itself as I ran my cloth along the hood and polished up the headlights. “Yes ma’am,” I murmured absently.

“Katniss.” The sound of her name alone tugged some sort of loose thread inside me and I could feel my senses begin to unravel.

I glanced up at her and met her smoky gaze, the slant of her lips. “Katniss,” I echoed. My voice was low; I could practically hear my desire rumbling there.

She leaned over and reached inside the small case that rested on the passenger seat. “How much do I owe you, Peeta?”

I fumbled for my ticket pad in my back pocket. “Oh. It’s… three dollars.”

As she fished a few bills from her wallet, I couldn’t help press her for more information. “So do you live in town?” I asked. “I’ve never seen you come in before.”

“You remember everyone that comes through here?” 

“I would remember you,” I confessed and immediately felt something crumple inside myself. I did my best to keep from wincing at my own comment. 

Easing back in her seat, her head tilted against the headrest and she peered up at me, amusement glittering in her eyes. “And why would you remember me?”

Please. Is she kidding me? “Well.” I attempted to clear the nerves scratching my throat. “This car, I mean...”

“Mm,” she hummed softly

“...Is pretty remarkable.” My words trailed off. I would remember the way you’re looking at me right now, I thought. Like she was promising me something dangerous. A woman’s never looked at me like that, ever. “And, you know, it’s a small town.”

“I’m in and out of town a lot,” she informed me. “For my job.”

My eyes flicked to the case in her seat, embroidered with the letters PSA. A pair of silver wings pinned to the canvas there glinted back at me. “Are you in the mob or something?” I teased, amusement twitching my cheek.

Finally a true smile stretched across her face and a surprised giggle bubbled out of her. “Yeah, what if I was?”

I laughed with her, offering a slight shake of my head as my gaze swept up the front of her dress once more. “God, if you are, you might as well go ahead and finish me off.”

Something flashed in her gaze for a brief moment before it fell just slightly, just for a moment to my mouth. “I might have to. You know too much.”

I couldn’t help but sever the eye contact as I glanced down at one chrome accented wheel. The way her eyes teased me was about to get me in trouble. I had no business talking to someone like her. She was probably somebody’s girlfriend. Hell, maybe somebody’s wife. 

“How old are you, Peeta?” Her voice lifted my gaze to meet hers again.

“Eighteen,” I answered quickly.

Her chest expanded slightly with a deep inhale and she blinked, turning her head to glance out the front windshield, across the empty lot. Then her measured exhale passed slowly between her relaxed lips. 

“Twenty,” I amended, hastily, before wetting my lips. “Twenty-five.” I breathed out a laugh, tilting my head in an attempt to lure her face back toward mine.

She chuckled softly, shaking her head in amusement.

“However old you want me to be,” I finished.

She glanced down at her lap and I couldn’t help but follow it to steal another look at her legs. She paused a beat, then peered up at me from her seat. “Are you always this much of a flirt?”

“No.” My response was immediate.

Her breath murmured a faint “Jesus,” and she looked away once more to shake her head. “How often does that mouth of yours get you what you want?”

My eyebrows jumped, an excited twitch. “Never,” I answered. “I mean, look at me.”

It excited me that she seemed to keep fighting her smile and yet it wouldn’t go away. She dragged her bottom lip beneath her teeth before slowly releasing it. Damn, it looked good. 

Her head still against the headrest, she turned to look at me, one cheek perked up with a hint of mischief. “What if I told you to get in?”

I felt my mouth part, my breath stilled inside of me and refused to escape. “Get in,” I managed, echoing her in confusion.

“The car,” she added. “Would you want to?”

“Would…” I faltered, glancing to the passenger seat, then up at the entrance to the service store. “Would I want to get in your car?” Shit. She had to be kidding. I breathed a laugh out of disbelief.

“Mm-hm,” she murmured, pressing her lips together. “You seem to have a real appreciation for my roadster.”

“I do,” I answered, almost instinctively, but I wasn’t looking at the car.

“Someone like that should get a chance to drive it.”

I don’t think a conversation had ever made me feel this close to coming in my pants. “Drive it?”

“Maybe,” she quickly asserted. “Are you a good driver?”

I swallowed, managing to dislodge my heart that was throbbing right there at the back of my throat, I swear. “I think so.”

“Would this be your first time? Driving a car like this?”

It was one thousand degrees, I was convinced. “Well.” My voice cracked. It fucking cracked. I cleared it away. “Not my first time driving, no. But… a car like this. I’ve never really…” And my words trailed off again, before I managed, “Cars like this are pretty rare.”

“That’s true,” she agreed, her loose fist sliding down the arc of the steering wheel. “So what do you say?”

“I say.” I drew my bottom lip under my teeth and glanced at the shop one more time. “I’m-- I’m supposed to keep the station open another half hour or so.” By now I’m certain she’d grown tired of me and was about to take off. Just get in the car, stop acting like a jackass.

She inhaled deeply and shrugged a lazy shoulder. “Alright, Peeta,” she sighed as she reached for her key and turned it in the ignition. “Just thought you’d want to take a drive. Here.” Katniss lifted her arm and pinched the front of my shirt between her fingers, then tugged me down, until I lowered myself toward her. My heart thudded as my face neared hers. The briefest flash of possibility flared through me that she might kiss me, but instead slipped the folded bills she had gotten out into my shirt pocket. 

She shifted into first and released the clutch, offering me a tiny smile before her wheels surged forward.

My mouth opened to catch a gasp of air as I watched the roadster pass. Suddenly I felt my feet pick up, one after the other, and graduate to a run. “Katniss!” I called out, and immediately, the car halted as she hit the brakes. “Wait!”

The flood lights of the station reflected off of her black hair as she turned her head over her shoulder to glance back at me. She simply arched an eyebrow in anticipation.

I pulled the set of keys from my pocket and they jingled in my hand. “Let me just lock up.”

***

My grip tightened as I shifted from fourth to fifth gear, the engine roaring as Katniss’s roadster picked up, the acceleration swelling. The air that hung thick in the summer night now whipped across my face, the rush of crisp wind pricking my skin. I glanced at Katniss in the passenger seat, her arm draped along the edge of her door as she peered up at the evening sky. The sun had slipped beneath the glowing horizon, bringing an invigorating buzz to this town, to everything.

I stole another look in her direction and she turned to face me. Her hair had been blown loose from her ponytail in errant wisps. I’d never been this close to somebody so agonizingly tempting. There was something so alluring about her face, unlike anyone’s I was used to seeing in southern California. She was downright heavenly. And so was this car of hers.

“How’re you doing, Peeta?” She shouted over the noise of the engine and the whoosh of the air we sliced through.

I grinned, unable to suppress a chuckle. “Pretty fantastic.”

She laughed, her smile competing with the twinkling city lights. She scooted down a little in her seat, the dress she was wearing riding up her thighs as she shifted. Good God.

I downshifted, slowing as we neared a red light in town. I inhaled deeply and let the heated air seep into my senses. “You know, there was a limited release of these just for the North American market,” I offered, sweeping my hands along the wheel. “Since technically the steering wheel’s supposed to be over there.” I directed my thumb in Katniss’s direction.

“Good thing,” she acknowledged with a quirk of her eyebrow. “I couldn’t drive sitting on this side. There’s no way.”

“Maybe, I don’t know.” I considered it. “If you’re on the other side of the road, maybe it would all be the same.”

With a shake of her head, she giggled, as if she was genuinely amused, or she was just humoring me. I was fine with either one. 

“And…” I continued, my eyes quickly darting over to her once more before the light turned green and I flicked the gear shift. “That’s really boring and I’m sorry. I’ll stop talking about this car now.”

“It’s fine, don’t apologize. You can talk about whatever you want.”

“I want to talk about you.” I could feel the corners of my mouth tic upward.

She turned her head from its position against the headrest. “Oh yeah?”

“Mm-hm.” I nodded and shifted once again, thrilling in the feel of the rising momentum as my foot lowered the gas pedal. 

She explained to me that she was a stewardess working for the airlines. I should have figured that out from the wings pendant and the dress she was wearing. I had never met a stewardess before, but the idea of them -- other-worldly and impulsive and sophisticated -- excited me. 

Her home was here in Panem, and she flew out of Los Angeles, destined for places that were merely a fantasy to me like New York and Rome and Hawaii. I’d never even left California. She insisted I travel and see the world.

“You’ve just graduated, right? Now’s the time,” she urged.

“What? Just pick up and go?” I felt my brow furrow as I questioned her. 

“Yes, that’s exactly what.” Her exuberance was contagious. Racing down the road, the hum of wind in my ears, I felt as free as the fantasy I was creating for myself in my head. 

But ultimately, I belonged here in Panem. I belonged at my father’s service station, my destiny working on cars so that other people could go somewhere. I could have driven all night with Katniss. I wanted to get on the highway and take her to the beach, but I knew that was pressing my luck. She was an adult with a life and responsibilities and probably didn’t intend on spending this long with some kid she hardly knew. 

And I had to keep telling myself that because the things I wanted her to do to me were hardly fit for a kid. I damn near ran off the road more than once sneaking glances at her, wondering how soft her skin was, what her bottom lip tasted like. If nothing else, God, just get me home so that I can be by myself for some much needed privacy.

I slowed my speed as we rolled up to the service station, arcing the wheel and gliding into the empty lot before I knocked the gear into park.

“So.” Her knees turned toward me and her eyes flashed with curiosity. “What’d you think?”

I exhaled and let my head fall back against the leather interior. “I think I’m in love,” I sighed.

She laughed softly and reached out to touch my thigh, her hand squeezing gently sending a surge of heat straight to my groin. “You’re funny,” she mused.

My stare was fixed on her hand and I think I accidentally lifted my hips, just the slightest bit, a reaction to the pressure of her palm. Jesus. 

“I should go,” she murmured, her voice barely a whisper. “You have your own car?”

I swallowed, watching as her grip loosened, but she kept her hand there on my leg. Eventually, it eased off until just her fingertips dragged along the fabric of my pants that were growing tighter by the second. 

Nodding, a broken “Yes” slipped across my lips. I picked up my hand from the gear shift, sliding it underneath hers. My fingertips tickled her palm as I threaded her fingers between my own.

She drew in a sharp breath through her nose and turned suddenly, releasing my hand and smoothing her own along her hair. “I should go,” she repeated.

Dammit. I don’t know why I did that. Tried to hold her hand? What the hell? “I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

“No,” she breathed. “Peeta, it’s fine.” She reached for her door handle and I had a sudden urge to jump over the car so that I could pull open her door myself. “I hope you had a nice time. Nothing to be sorry for.” She stepped out onto the pavement and shut the door, assuring me with a smile that only served to spread that heat inside of me.

I opened the driver’s side door and vacated my seat. We both rounded the front of the car in order to trade places, but I couldn’t help block her path as she crossed in front of the driver’s side headlight, her tall boots clicking on the concrete. “I did,” I told her. “That was incredible. Thank you for trusting me. And… and I-” My breath came from deep in my gut as I remained, unmoving, and she made no attempts to walk around me until I lingered right over her. “I hope you come back, that’s all,” I finished.

A rumble of thunder rolled overhead and seemed to shake the sky. Katniss gazed up at me, her bottom lip wet and shiny, and it was killing me. “Of course,” she answered. 

I nodded and glanced up, furrowing my brow as I attempted to gauge the impending summer storm. “Here, let me put your top up.”

“Peeta, it’s okay-”

Reluctantly, I retreated, ignoring the ache I felt when I stepped away from her. “Just in case.” Quickly, I worked to stretch the top to cover the roadster, then went to each door to roll up the windows, effectively securing the car in case the rain started before she made it home.

“You’re very sweet, thank you.” She made her way to the driver’s side as I reached for the door handle.

“I’m not that sweet, I promise,” I murmured. But I am. I just tried to hold her damn hand.

A gentle smile surfaced on her face and she peered up at me from underneath thick, dark lashes. “You are, and that’s a good thing.” She reached up and smoothed some of the windblown hair off my brow.

I exhaled a soft laugh and I could hear the hint of sadness in my breath.

“Then again, maybe not,” she said, her eyebrow jumping with another crack of thunder. “A sweet boy wouldn’t get in the car with a total stranger.”

I mirrored her quirked eyebrow and tugged open her door. “A sweet girl wouldn’t let a complete stranger drive her car.”

“Who said I was sweet?” She left me with a playfully narrowed glare before she lowered herself into the driver’s seat. “Goodnight, Peeta.”

God help me. I inhaled the most sobering breath I could manage, my chest expanding with much needed oxygen, and pushed the door closed.

Her tires rolled forward and I stood there, making sure she pulled onto the main road without a problem, a part of me wondering if she’d stop one more time. When she didn’t, I fished in my pocket for my own car keys and made my way to my truck parked at the side of the shop just in time for the initial raindrops to spatter my shoulders.

***

I pictured her on the inside of my eyelids for the millionth time that night. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I’d thought about her quite vividly in the shower as soon as I got home from work. And now, with my headphones clamped over my ears plugged into my record player, I reclined in bed on top of my covers, my hands tucked beneath my head, and let Sam Cooke croon a soundtrack to some sort of fantasy in my head. I imagined Katniss and me and that car and some Mediterranean island that suited her beauty perfectly. Goddammit, this was shameful.

Tearing through my reverie, the bass of my father’s voice hummed through the music in my ears and my eyes popped open to see him standing in the doorway to my bedroom. 

I pushed the headphones off my ears and furrowed my brow. “Sir?”

“Got a call for a service tow, son,” my father announced. For the business, he paid an answering service to take phone calls in the evenings for tow truck requests and they patched them through to our house line up ‘til ten o’clock.

In the summers, I was the one who had to pick up the stranded drivers considering I couldn’t use homework as an excuse. I sat up and rubbed the heel of my hand against my eyes, attempting to wipe away the dreamy fog that clouded them. “Alright, sure,” I agreed, making my way to the closet for my scuffed Converse. I decided against my work uniform and figured my white t-shirt and plain khaki chinos I had on would have to be good enough to represent the family business.

I drove my truck to the shop where I left it and switched my vehicle for the company tow truck. The wipers slapped the fat, heavy raindrops across the windshield, as fast as they would go as I followed the directions I was given. 

Slowing as I neared the next intersection in the middle of town, I scanned the shops that lined the avenue. I squinted through the blurry glass, peered across the empty block until I spotted one car at the far end near a telephone booth. As I neared the vehicle, the partial light from the streetlamp overhead revealed its unmistakable mint green color and I slammed on my breaks.

No shit.

I was seeing things, probably. Slowly, I lifted my foot off the brake and rolled past it in order to park in front of the tiny sports car. I’m delusional, it’s as simple as that. I’ve spent too long in my fantasies.

I hopped from the truck and was pelted by the unrelenting raindrops of summer as I jogged closer. Gaping at the roadster in confusion, I could hardly believe it when Katniss rose from the driver’s side and splashed through a puddle to meet me in front of her car. 

“Peeta!”

“Are you okay?” I had to yell over the storm and the rumble of the tow truck’s engine.

“I‘m fine but-,” she shouted, gesturing back to her car. Her dark hair clung to the side of her neck and her dress was soaked. Clearly, she had been out here trying to deal with this in the rain herself. “It wouldn’t start. I don’t know.”

Dumbfounded, I just sort of stood there. I think a part of me worried I’d never see her again and yet here she was, standing right here in front of me rattling off possible causes for her car’s breakdown. 

“I know it’s not the battery,” she continued, her brow knit in frustration. She peered up at me, glistening droplets of rain decorated the tips of her eyelashes, splashed from her full bottom lip when she spoke. “I don’t know. It’s probably something really stupid.”

I balled my fists and willed myself to get to work on hitching the tow, but all I could do was step closer to her. I’m such a jerk. Get her out of this rain. 

I noticed her gaze fall as I approached. “I’m so sorry you had to come out here in the rain.” Her sentiment escaped her in a breathy sigh and I caught a glimpse of her throat bobbing in a nervous swallow.

“Stop,” I finally muttered. “Just… can I please-” The words barely sounded like anything as my hands rose to cup her cheeks, my thumbs grazing the slick skin there, and my mouth fell onto hers.

I had to. Obviously, there was a right way for me to respond to her need for help. I should get her out of the rain. I should fix her damn car. I should just do my job, be the nice boy who helps the pretty woman. But I didn’t do any of those things.

I heard her- No, I _felt_ her whimper as her body dipped against me, her lips giving into mine. I eased my grip on her face so that she could pull away and smack me if she wanted to. I sort of braced myself for it. But instead, her hand went to the front of my rain-drenched t-shirt and she squeezed before reaching up to drag her fingertips through the hair at the back of my head.

Oh god, her lips felt perfect. I licked a delicate path across them before she reciprocated and her tongue melted into mine. I couldn’t help the rough groan that shook my insides and my hands went to her sides where I tugged her until our hips collided.

I heard a gasp breeze through her kiss as it slipped from mine. My eyes opened and I blinked away the pelting raindrops, turning my gaze down at her.

A sigh escaped me. "I-"

"Peeta," she breathed.

"-am not sorry," I pressed with a slight shake of my head and I dug my fingers harder into her hips. "At all." I know she was trying to stop me, trying to find some sort of authority in her voice to tell me I was just a sweet boy, but she can't deny that she kissed me back. “And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you all night.”

She pressed her lips together and merely nodded at me, probably trying to figure out how to let me down. My heart sank for a moment when I looked at her.

“Can we get out of the rain?” She asked.

“Of course,” I breathed. “Come on.” I flicked my head and placed my hand on the small of her back to guide her toward the truck. I pulled open the passenger side door and she braced her hand on mine as I gave her a slight boost up into the seat. 

“It should just take a minute to get the tow hitched,” I told her as the rain pelted my brow. Then her arm dropped and her fingers landed on my shoulder. “And… then,” my gaze followed her touch, “I can get you home.”

“Peeta.” She said my name again and I could listen to it fall from her lips all day. “What if I asked you to get in the car with me?” She asked her familiar question with a playful smirk and squeezed the shoulder of my t-shirt harder. The pressure of her grip unwound just about everything inside of me.

Unlike earlier when she told me to close up shop and get in her car, this time I didn’t hesitate. I grasped the edge of the door opening and swung myself up into the cab of the truck. I ducked inside, kneeled on the worn seat between her legs, and my mouth captured hers once more. I kissed her like I was livid that I had to stop the first time.

A breathy moan floated along her throat and she reciprocated the intensity of my kiss, branding me with her lips. As if I could forget. Her furious hands went to my soaked t-shirt and she peeled it off my skin before I yanked it off and dropped it to the floorboard in a wet heap.

Her instructions came in a rush of breath. “Close the door.”

As I reached back for it, Katniss scooted all the way across the bench seat until her back met the driver’s side door. I closed us inside, finally sheltering us from the rain. Not that it made a difference, we were soaked.

“Come here,” she invited.

I hunched down at the other end of the seat, held myself up with one hand on the dash and the other on the back of the bench. I knew I was done hesitating, but I was caught for a moment as a combination of panic and fascination took hold of the muscles in my body. It was quieter now, the relentless raindrops spattering the truck, our amplified breathing, and the low hum of a Bill Withers song on the radio filled the space around us.

I let my gaze travel up the length of her legs as she lounged against the door, her warm skin dripping with moisture. Pausing a moment to swallow, I studied the peak between her thighs, in the shadow of her dress, before glancing up and finally settling on her stormy eyes that were doing nothing but provoking me.

Katniss pressed her hands down and scooted herself until she sat upright, leaning closer to me. “I don’t beg, Peeta,” she taunted and I noticed the faint jump of one eyebrow.

God, I couldn't believe her. A surge of hot air escaped me and I shoved off the dash and dropped on top of her, probably crushing her slight frame with my weight. But she welcomed me eagerly, moaning against my kiss, greedy and hot in a way I'd never heard before.

I felt myself rock against her, in between her legs with an urgency I would probably regret in just a few minutes. I was surprised at the heat that coursed through me. I usually didn't kiss someone this hard, but goddamn. A hot exhale escaped me as my lips slipped from hers. "You don't have to beg for a damn thing, I'm all yours, Katniss." My words growled against her throat as my mouth descended. "I'll do anything you want."

Her skin was soaked and the air inside my truck was stifling, humid from the storm outside and the cruel summertime heat. She exhaled a slight whimper and I felt her arch her back off the door. "The way you're talking to me is getting me so turned on, Peeta." Her confession was merely a wisp of air, but her words still managed to make my cock throb as they floated from her mouth. "Keep talking."

I groaned, my hand bunched the rain-drenched fabric of her dress at her side as I struggled to push it up. "I want to get you off so bad," I murmured on her skin, my teeth scraped her there. "Let me go down on you."

I glanced up at her and saw her push her palm against her forehead, rubbing there, then over her eyes as she squeezed them shut. “Oh, my god,” she sighed.

I grasped her hips in my hands and yanked her closer to me, her back slipping off the door until she was flat across the seat. She squeaked a surprised whimper as her head dropped to the cushion. Her foot fell and landed on the floorboard as her legs opened. 

“Please,” I exhaled, shoving her dress up to her waist. Her hips tilted slightly and I dove between her thighs, covering her on the outside of her satiny underwear with my mouth.

She cried out, like she was surprised again, and shuddered at the initial sensation. 

I wanted them off. I didn’t want a thing to separate us, but I was also desperate as hell and had no patience. I tugged the edge of the material and peeled it down. She helped, struggling a little to shove the garment down her thighs, over the boots she still wore, in a flurry of ragged breathing. 

I ducked my head and dragged her toward me once more, burying my face between her legs. Her legs dangled on either side of me but came to a summit somewhere in heaven, I’m not kidding. Like blissful pure, dizzying heat and fucking stars and stripes forever, holy shit I could die.

I was too eager, I’m sure. I should have taken my time teasing and politely exploring and things I think I’m supposed to do so that she can enjoy it. But instead I was impatient, my mouth parting her slick folds. Moaning against her. I could feel the vibration I made there as a grunt buzzed in my throat.

I slid my tongue along her wet center, urging it between the deliciously hot walls there before I dragged it to her clit. I was rewarded with a choppy sigh from overhead, all breathy and long and I pictured her mouth open and her head tilted back while her hands dropped to the back of my head.

“Ah!” She gasped, and flinched underneath me. “Peeta, Peeta--” She breathed hurriedly, stilling my head in her hands and eventually a soft laugh floated from her throat. 

I paused with a nervous swallow when I heard the laughter.

“Not so much. Just…” And then her voice trailed off as I eased my face back. 

Slowly, I barely nudged her with my tongue and that alone prompted the sexiest noise I’d ever heard. Her instructions melted on her lips, her hands slipped from my head and she arched against me, moaning her approval. As much as I wanted more, I concentrated on the slow, featherlight graze of my tongue and was amazed at what it did to her.

She was mumbling a string of foul words wasn’t used to hearing from a woman this beautiful, all punctuated by the most electric sighs and moans that had my dick achingly stiff. Her hips began to rock against my face and I felt her squeeze my hair in her fist. It sent a shock through me and I pressed my palm against her inner thigh to open her legs wider.

“Use your hand,” she sighed. “Your fingers.”

I slid the hand that was on her thigh to the center between her legs and used my thumb to part her while my other hand teased the glistening slit there. My middle finger slipped inside of her and I was fascinated as I watched it plunge past her entrance.

Her approval echoed inside the truck as she writhed against me, meeting the paced strokes of my finger.

“Like this?” I tasted her on my bottom lip and craved her again already.

“Uh-huh,” She sighed and I felt another tug on my hair. My mouth fell against her once more, seeking out her clit with nibbling kisses. I eased another finger inside of her, prompting an airy cry that seemed to rush through her chest.

I kept going, feeling like I had achieved some sort of pattern, a rhythm that was making her arch her back and rock against my face and my determined fingers. I wanted her to regret calling me sweet.

A reckless shriek escaped her. She bucked her hips and must have thrashed her arm because a sudden, sharp clang blared in my ear. I think she slammed her hand against my horn.

“Shit,” she breathed. “Sorry. Oh my god, Peeta.”

I just groaned, my tongue sneaking around her clit. Every time I tasted it, she seemed to jerk and her breaths would quicken so I just kept doing it, kept nudging the center of the spark there with my tongue. I buried my fingers inside of her, trying not to think about how good she felt. Damn, I’d never felt anything like it. I don’t think I’d ever been this frenzied, this determined to make somebody fall apart. 

My hard-on pulsed and each moan out of her mouth made it strain against my pants. She held onto the back of my head and the urgency of her hips made my tongue flick a little faster, never letting up on her clit as my fingers coerced her. She was pulling my hair so hard but it felt amazing. Every nerve ending on my body was standing on end and the slightest touch made them feel like they were exploding.

She tensed, falling quiet when she came, only letting out these tiny whimpers and sucking in gasps of air while she anchored my face to the pulse that throbbed in her center. I felt it around my fingers, that pulse gripping them before everything unraveled and I tasted her melting on my tongue.

After our breathing cooled as much as it possibly could, Katniss guided my head away and I dropped my forehead to the seat. I inhaled deeply and savored the taste of her that lingered on my mouth.

“You okay?” Her soft voice drew me out of my reverie.

I snapped my head up. She had drawn her knees together and placed both feet on the floorboard while she looked me, teasing the tip of her thumb between her teeth. I nodded, probably an idiotic grin stretching across my face.

“How’d you do that?” Her shiny eyes flared with wonder and the corners of her lips tugged upward before a slight giggle bounced out of her.

I exhaled a quiet laugh and swallowed. I couldn’t think about anything but my swelling erection and I willed myself to calm down. “I could have kept going.”

Her smile morphed into some sort of wry, sexy smirk and she pushed herself forward, sliding one knee onto the seat. “So could I,” she told me. She pushed my shoulder back until I was seated on the passenger side and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, fascinated and nervous and hopeful, as she followed and climbed over me.

She straddled my lap and quickly worked the button on my pants. I helped her, lifting to ease them down and she freed me from my underwear.

A throaty groan rumbled through me when her hand wrapped around my dick, stiff with want. She peered back up at me, using her free hand to swipe across my face, over my mouth and I couldn’t resist laughing as she erased the evidence of where I’d just been. 

I twisted my face away with a smile and glanced up at her. “You tasted amazing.”

Her chest rose and fell with a deep breath and she reached down to stroke me a few times. “I’ve never… I mean,” she sighed, licking her parted lips as her eyes met mine. “No one’s ever… like that.”

A tightness clenched in my gut and I shifted my hips. I didn’t mean to but I thrust into her hand as my curious gaze darted all around hers. “What do you mean?”

Slowly, she lowered herself over me and I felt my cock pierce her entrance. My breath caught in my throat as a wave of heat surged through me and I eased inside of her. She paused a moment, gasping slightly as she sank down on my length. I forgot what we were talking about. My god, she felt perfect, I was going to black out. 

She wrapped a hand around my neck and squeezed, eventually rising and inching back down on me. I peered down between our bodies

"It's just that -- ohh," her breath interrupted her and she fell against me. "Others that I've come across... don't seem to..." A haze started to ghost across her eyes as her words got lost in her sighs.

I gripped her hips, pulling her closer as I felt myself fill her. Struggling to focus, to keep from losing it, I squeezed my eyes shut and momentarily let my head drop back on the edge of the seat. "Don't seem to what?"

"Try very hard," she gasped. "To make me..."

"To make you come?"

"Yes."

Admittedly, I hardly had any kind of expertise to speak of. "They're idiots," I managed. "I could have done that ‘til the sun came up. I've never wanted something so bad."

She cried out and buried her face in the curve of my neck. "Peeta--"

"Katniss," I panted. "I'm almost there. I can't-- You feel so goddamn perfect." I cursed myself for how wound up I was. I wanted to keep going 'til my name was all she could say. I wanted to peel her dress off and taste her and draw a path along her curves with my tongue but I was too close to the edge.

She simply moaned as if my admission got her even hotter and rose to her knees. I grunted as I felt myself ease out of her and I exhaled a desperate gasp. My head dropped back as I closed my eyes. 

And before I could beg her to come back, to keep going, I raised my head and saw that, without a sound, she had gotten to her knees at my side. Lowering her head, she slid me into her wet mouth and I coughed in disbelief before attempting a futile gulp of air.

"Holy shit!" I tilted my face up to the ceiling of the truck. Was she serious? No girl had ever had my dick in her mouth before. I was fucking ruined. I’d never know a mouth so perfect. I’d never know a girl this perfect, I was sure of it. My hips lifted off the seat and I rocked against her skilled and ravenous tongue, throbbed inside her attentive fist. 

I threaded her hair between my fingers and laid my other arm across the top of the bench seat. I gripped the interior there and shifted beneath her once again. As soon as I lifted my head to glance down at her taking me between her lips -- shit. A tremor of noiseless thunder rolled through me, cracked and shattered until I fell to pieces. I let go in her mouth and I felt her there until I finished.

Glowing, blurry dots -- partly made up of rain on my windshield but mostly the stars that popped and clouded my vision -- were all I saw for a while afterward. When they faded, I lifted my weightless head and attempted to slow my breathing. 

Finally my senses started to engage. The tune drifting from my radio, muffled by the splattered raindrops surrounded me once again. My vision focused with the help of the streetlamp and I glanced over at Katniss. For the first time, she seemed timid and unsure as she shifted to draw the hem of her dress back over her rear end, meanwhile the tease of a smile sneaked across her lips.

I remembered to settle myself back into my pants and couldn’t help the stuttering that edged out of me. “Um..” I laughed softly as I fastened the button there. I felt like I should say thank you, but that’s… strange. Although I’d never been more grateful, more appreciative of anything my entire life. Even after all the pathetic begging I stooped to when I was going with Madge, when she agreed and we both said goodbye to our virtues that night at Thresh’s party after the Fall Ball. I had been too excited and fumbled my way through the occasion, and was met with half-hearted enjoyment on her end, but I remember being deliriously appreciative. 

But this was a different urge. It wasn’t as if I felt like she did me a favor. It was more like… this feeling that she needed me. I wasn’t used to feeling needed.

“I don’t normally…” Katniss spoke up, then trailed off. 

“No, I-” I interjected with a shake of my head. “I don’t normally… I don’t.” Finally, I exhaled an amused breath and couldn’t fight a smile as I glanced down. “I hope that was okay.”

The angelic chorus behind Sam Cooke’s _You Send Me_ hummed from the radio and it made this sort of dull, happy warmth inside of me swell with its rhythm. 

“It was.” And I could hear the smile in her breath before I turned my head to glance up at her. 

“I’ll need to um… tow your car back to the shop so I can take a look.” I tensed momentarily when I noticed her gaze fall from my face to my still-bare shoulders, down the front of my chest. I considered my shirt and then remembered it was soaked down there on the floorboard. Plus, it was still pouring down rain anyway and I needed to head back out and hitch her car to the truck.

I slipped out the driver’s side door, rounded the truck and got to work. The rain splattered my back and cooled my skin, reorienting my senses. After a quick inspection and a few failed attempts to crank the engine, I determined the problem was either her starter or her timing belt. Considering the circumstances, though, I could easily be wrong. Either way, the car wouldn’t start and it would need to go into the shop.

Flinging rain off my brow, I rigged the tow underneath Katniss’s roadster, trying to be as careful as possible. I secured the chain and watched it raise the front end of her car, then packed everything up and tossed my tools back in the truck.

I ran back around to the driver’s side, yanked open the door and hopped into the cab. When I shut the door behind me, I exhaled a whoosh of air, finally finding some relief from the cruel thunderstorm.

“Woo!” I hollered, pushing the hair back off my face. Then I swiped my hands over my eyes, and down my cheeks, flicking a few droplets off my skin. 

“I’m sorry,” Katniss offered a sympathetic giggle.

“Don’t apologize.” I shook my head. I could still still taste her, the sweet results of pure rapture lingered on my tongue and I wondered how many times I would crave it again and again.

“I feel so bad. You’re soaked.”

I smiled at the grin she was trying to hide, biting her bottom lip. “Trust me.” I exhaled a soft laugh as I gripped the gear shift while my foot found the pedal. “I’ve got no complaints. Let’s get you back in that roadster.”

She shifted in her seat, leaning back a little as she seemed to study the rain as we rolled through the parking lot. “When are we going to get you on an airplane?”

I chuckled softly and turned onto the main road. “Whenever I have some place to go, I guess.”

“You ever been to New York?”

Briefly, I turned to look at her. “I’ve never been anywhere.”

“I fly out tomorrow and then I’ve got two days there.”

I feel the smile slowly stretch across my cheeks as I blink into focus and try to stay on the road. The idea of leaving and going somewhere, anywhere, with her was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t feel stuck, I felt free. The rush of my heart when I drove her car, when I kissed her in the rain, when she sighed my name made everything feel like the beginning of something great.

“So what are you doing tomorrow, Peeta?” She asked.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and settled back in my seat. I tasted my lips once more, let the thud of my heartbeat tell me what to say and told her, “Going to New York with you, Katniss.”

***


End file.
